NAS (network attached storage) devices with four bays or more have experienced significant growth while dual-bay products have seen a decline of nearly 10% year-on-year.

The market is also seeing a shift from the 3.5-inch form factor to the smaller 2.5-inch one, fuelled by diminishing price difference as well as power and space efficiencies.

1TB for the 2.5-inch models, along with 2TB and 4TB for the bigger drives are the sweet spot capacities, while USB is the preferred interface at the lower end of the market, whereas Ethernet dominates the upper tier.